


Codewords

by eak_a_mouse



Series: Superwolf [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eak_a_mouse/pseuds/eak_a_mouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s pretty sure that he could imagine the facial expression Danny would be making. It was his uniquely “I’m being patient with your douchiness, but you could be so much better” face. </p>
<p>And the thing was, this wasn’t funny. </p>
<p>They’d practiced for this. God, the codewords were here just for this reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Codewords

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for minor offscreen canon typical violence

Scott’s day job was working as a vet tech at an animal shelter. The pay was small change, but they never minded if he asked for weird times off, so long as he did most of the scut work and took on extra shifts as needed, like the late shift tonight. 

He missed Danny when their time at home didn’t coincide, but he didn’t think he was ready to give up his own job. 

Checking the new arrivals one last time, he hummed faintly to himself, grinning at the pups who barely had their eyes open for a day. His ringtone broke the moment of peace and Danny’s name popped up on the screen. 

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I’m headed home, but I might be late. The milk spoiled.”

Scott froze. 

___

The first date was a disaster. 

Undercooked eggs gave Danny food poisoning. Scott spent most of the morning anxiously waiting outside the bathroom door and coaxing him to drink plenty of water and nibble a few crackers.

The second date was interrupted by reports of an armed burglary. 

The third date finally succeeded, mostly because they took no risks and ordered pizza to Danny’s apartment. It’s hard to screw up pizza.

A month after their first official (successful) date, Danny asked to help. 

Scott, the taste of blood on his tongue and the smell of ashes in his memory, responded with an absolute no. 

It took another month of Danny acting as his hacker, Danny acting as his liaison with police, and Danny generally (secretly) doing everything he’d asked to do anyway for Scott to cave. 

___

“Remember: I love you. See you when I see you, peaches.”

Scott was left staring at his phone. He’s pretty sure that he could imagine the facial expression Danny would be making. It was his uniquely “I’m being patient with your douchiness, but you could be so much better” face. 

And the thing was, this wasn’t funny. 

They’d practiced for this. God, the codewords were here just for this reason. Spoiled milk meant I’m being followed. Peaches meant I’ll take care of it on my own.

That didn’t mean that Scott’s hands weren’t shaking. That the keys weren’t trembling in his hand. That the tires didn’t squeal on the way out.

Just because they’d planned for this doesn’t mean he was ready for when it happened.

For it to ever happen.  
__

Scott tried to keep Danny out of the superhero side of his life. It was enough that Danny knew why he abandoned him at dinner dates sometimes or why he’d come back smelling of blood or smoke or gunfire.

But Danny was also one of the few people Scott knew who could hack into public records or help him evade authorities without asking for a chunk of cash in return. 

It was just so easy to let Danny help. Especially when not letting him help tended to end in tense not-quite-fights. 

Scott had learned this lesson years ago, painfully written in the blood of his best friend. The people who get involved in this? They get hurt. 

Scott never wanted anyone to get hurt on his behalf ever again.

___

Scott tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel wishing he could get there just a little bit faster. He was already pushing the speed limit, taking corners just that little bit too fast, rushing through yellow lights, leaving a cacophony of honking behind him.

The next time he got superpowers, he was asking for teleportation. 

Driving left too much time for things to go terribly wrong, gave him too much time to imagine every horrible thing that could happen, could be happening right now. 

The thing no one tells you about becoming a superhero? Wander around trying to save people from horrible things long enough and your ability to imagine horrible things suddenly shocks even yourself. 

Most of the time, it wasn’t even supervillains.   
Just stupid, petty, human evil. 

Doesn’t stop people from getting killed, from getting hurt, just as easily, just as fast.

___

When Scott had done this in highschool, it was mostly instinctual. Here are the bad guys, I’m strong enough to beat the bad guys, and everyone lives happily ever after. 

No one was supposed to die. Not police officers, not best friends, not even the bad guys in the end. Superhero movies were such liars.

By the time he was slowly finishing a degree as a vet tech, he’d come to realize instincts weren’t enough. So in addition to studying the anatomy of small animals, he trained as an EMT and took hand to hand combat classes and practiced melee fighting in the occasional bar brawl. He studied police procedure and basic investigations and legal rights for the accused. 

Being mediocre at this was no longer acceptable. 

With Danny, it was different. Danny was never planning on playing Robin. He needed self defense and a basic understanding of the legal side of things, but less of the ability to fuck people up. Danny wasn’t fond of weapons or hurting people or doing the police’s job. So, instead they set up codewords and signs and countersigns and chose a defensible apartment and then stocked it like it was under siege. 

If Danny got to the apartment, he’d be safe.

Scott was holding onto that thought with everything he had.

___

The door to the apartment was the slightest bit ajar. He pushed it open lightly. 

The endtable was knocked over, the couch pushed out of place, a lamp broken but still lit on the floor. 

He followed the trail of destruction into the kitchen. 

There were two men sitting in the center of the kitchen, tied to two of the chairs from the breakfast nook, sullenly staring at the ground.

Danny was standing guard over them, the gun held loosely in his hands pointed at the floor, but still ready. Danny was instantly pointing the gun at Scott’s head as he rounded the corner and moved into his line of sight. After a taut second, Danny placed the gun on the counter behind him, swallowing roughly.

Danny’s expressionless mask echoed in Scott’s voice. “You called the police.”

“As soon as I had let you know. They should be here any moment now.” 

Scott nodded briefly, afraid of the flat practicality in Danny’s eyes. He hadn’t wanted to put that there.

They could breakdown quietly later when they were safely in bed together. Because their precautions wouldn’t always work.

It was enough to know that, today, the fifteen weapons hidden in the first three rooms of the apartment, the twenty odd code phrases they’d worked out together, the hours they’d spent practicing how to disarm a man as quickly as possible had protected Danny. That Danny had proven he could protect himself from the two men squirming in their kitchen and whatever else Scott had brought into their lives. 

They were safe.

And that was enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Could never have happened without my awesome beta, f-t-b-p on lj, who asked for other stories in this 'verse and then went through the whole editing process while making me laugh to myself at some of her comments. Crossposted to my livejournal.


End file.
